Both she and husband Gideon said they are not going to get caught up in the motive for the crime — including suggestions that the 19-year-old University of Pennsylvania student was killed for being gay.

“We wanted him to feel like he could be open about every part of his life,” she said. “We wanted him to naturally get to a comfortable place. And he was getting there. He was on his way.”

The mourning parents chose to focus on their son’s life and his passions for cooking and traveling. They said the night he went missing, Jan. 2, Blaze cooked the entire family a meal.

“We had the grandparents there. All of my children were together under one roof, and Blaze cooked a beautiful meal for all of us to eat,” Jeanne said.

That would be the last moment she’d see her son alive. After dinner, Blaze went out to meet friends and never returned. The parents realized something was wrong the next day.

“We were supposed to be together that day and he wasn’t in the house,” Jeanne said.

On Jan. 9, Blaze was found buried in a shallow grave in a park near his home with more than 20 stab wounds on his body.

Blaze BernsteinAP

“I lost my son. I lost the most precious gift,” Jeanne said.

Blaze’s high school classmate, 20-year-old Samuel Woodward, has been charged with his murder and investigators aren’t ruling out charging him with a hate crime, CBS News reported.

“We are in fact looking for evidence that might support that,” Orange County District Attorney Tony Rackauckas told the outlet.

In an affidavit obtained by the Orange County Register, Woodward told investigators he was angry with Blaze, who was gay, because he kissed Woodward the night he disappeared, CBS News reported.

Blaze’s parents rebuffed questions on the investigation.

“If we talk about these things now, then this young man will not get a fair trial. And I want that for all of us,” Jeanne said.

“I want the legal system to work. I’m an attorney. I value it,” she added.